Earthquakes in the Bible; The Earthquake of the Apocalypse

While some people doubt that life on earth began with a Big Bang, it might just end with one, as in a massive explosion or an earthquake that may crash the Richter Scale.

Earthquakes are no strangers to the biblical record. Let’s trace the subject across the pages of Scripture.

1. The first quake took place at Mount Sinai as part of the context for the giving of the Ten Commandments; Exodus 19:18.
2. A Levite named Korah led a rebellion against Moses, and he incurred an earthquake that buried him and his collaborators; Numbers 16:28-33.
3. God used a minor earthquake to shake fear out of Prophet Elijah who was hiding from Queen Jezebel; 1 Kings 19:11-13a.
4. During the reign of King Uzziah (ca. 790-739 BC), there was a quake so well known to 8^th-century-BC Judah that it was referred to simply as “the earthquake” (Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5).
5. Jesus Christ prophesied that earthquakes would be part of a proliferation of disasters signifying the end-time;Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11.
6. Following the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, the earth quaked; Matthew 27:51,54.
7. Another earthquake struck before dawn on the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead; Matthew 28:1-2.
8. A minor quake shook the building where some early Christians gathered for intense praying; Acts 4:31.
9. The wrongful imprisonment of Paul and Silas in the city of Philippi was followed by a nighttime earthquake; Acts 16:25-26.

That brings us to the earthquakes prophesied in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. In his prophetic vision the Apostle John speaks of these earthquakes in the past tense, though they were still future events to take place near the end of human history.

(a)   An earthquake sparks cosmic disturbances when “the Lamb” opened “the sixth seal”; Revelation 6:12-14.

(b)  An earthquake ensued when “the angel” threw a censer to the earth; Revelation 8:5.

(c)   When the two prophetic witnesses rise from the dead and ascend to Heaven, the earth trembles; Revelation 11:13.

(d)  The earth quakes after “the seventh angel” blows “the seventh trumpet”, proclaiming the end of earthly kingdoms and governments; Revelation 11:19.

After that, our planet will experience one more earthquake, the biggest of them all, The Earthquake Of The Apocalypse. Just how massive will this final earthquake be? Well, the biggest earthquake recorded on the Richter Scale was the 9.5 magnitude monster that struck Chile on May 22, 1960. The world’s last earthquake will make the Chilean earthquake look like a minor tremor.

Interestingly, the Apostle John (the writer of Revelation) was not the first to forecast the apocalyptic earthquake. Centuries before John, three Hebrew prophets predicted this quake in connection with the final outpouring of Yahweh’s wrath on the earth. Isaiah and Haggai saw the final earthquake as nothing less than a divine shaking of the heavens and the earth:

• Isaiah 13:13, “Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger.”
• Haggai 2:6, “For thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land.”

In his prophetic vision, Ezekiel saw the final earthquake as part of Yahweh’s defense of Israel against the foreign forces that invade that nation during the Battle of Armageddon:

• Ezekiel 38:18-20, “‘And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘that My fury will show in My face. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.'”

It was the fulfillment of that prophetic forecast that the Apostle John saw when he wrote,

• “Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city (i.e., Jerusalem) was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon (i.e., the composite world system) was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great” (Revelation 16:17-21).

What is even scarier is that this massive earthquake is likely to trigger numerous tsunamis in the oceans of the world. And as we have seen in the 2011 earthquake of Japan, hundreds of nuclear installations may become collateral disasters in the aftermath of the greatest quake. If that scenario unfolds, can we imagine the radioactive contamination that will be unleashed upon the global population?

Of course, if we hold the view that the Bible is a compilation of myth and fables, we can just ignore all of this stuff, or can we? We may attribute a globally destructive earthquake to climate change. Disagreeing on the cause of the catastrophe (whether it is God-sent or man-made) will do little to lessen the impact and agony of the devastations that such disasters inflict on people all around the world. ~mogama~